Somme – Day 14

Today’s travelling was going to take in many parts of the Australian Battlefields I had never seen before.

The first stop was on the road to the Australian 4th Divisional Memorial at Bellenglise. The reason we were not able to get closer to the memorial was due to the poor condition of the road. The 4th Divisional Memorial is very isolated in a non-descript field so the best I could do was take some remote shots.

Colin said that he would try and get us closer via another route later in the day, which I really hoped was a possibility.

We then stopped outside the Bellenglise Town Hall where the above plaque is located. Many people think that the words:

Nous n’oublions pas L’Australie (we do not forget Australia)

only appears in Villers Bretennoeux but that is incorrect as you can see from the above.

We then stopped at the canals of St Quentin. The second shot taken showing the bridge is actually in the same location where a famous picture was taken of a General addressing his men was taken. It is famous because some of the men are wearing lift preservers in the belief they were crossing a ‘body of water’.

Next stop was the Calvaire Cemetery at Montbrein. This cemetery holds the last Australian victims of battle in World War I. It also contains a sad story of two mates who joined as privates at the beginning of the war, served from Gallipoli through all the major battles of the War, rose to be commissioned officers (captains) only to be killed in this last action.

Many feel that these Aussies died needlessly in a battle that Monash should not have engaged in.

We then stopped and walked down to one of the canal tunnel entrances. This tunnel was built by Napoleon and stretches for 20 or so kilometres and is still in use today.

We then travelled to the American Cemetery at Bony and the American Memorial not far away.

As you can see Colin managed to negotiate the alternate track to the 4th Divisional Memorial. I am really pleased that we were able to make it here because it is the only Australian Divisional memorial I had not been to. Now I can say that I have been to them ALL.

Given the memorial’s remote location and lack of visitors in general I feel it was an important place to visit and pay my respects.

We returned to Peronne for a quick lunch.

Next stop is just outside Peronne at Mont St Quentin to visit the 2nd Divisional Memorial.

The church is actually just in front of the 2nd Division Memorial heading up the Mont.

Colin then showed us an example of the ‘iron harvest’ that the farmers turn up every year as they plough their fields. So many items from the War are still being found in the fields including unexploded munitions.

Next stop was another important one for me – Bullecourt.

Looking towards the old railway line (trees) which was teh Australians front line.

The watertower marks the Germans frontlines.

In the town is the slouch hat memorial

 

A little bit further down the road is the Digger Corlett memorial.

 

The town of Bullecourt from the rear of the memorial.

This is the view from the back of the memorial looking into the fields where the Australians advanced to.

If you travel a little further along the road you come to another memorial.

This memorial marks the second trench line at Bullecourt.

In the town of Bullecourt Colin took us to a 'museum’ of items collected by the previous Mayor of Bullecourt.

The above shows the old rail line that was the location of the Australian lines before the battle. No more of that train line exists to anyone knowledge.

Inside the ‘museum’ showing the amazing collection of items discovered from the surrounding fields.

All in all an excellent day that covered a lot of ground in the battlefield I had never visited. It was great to go to Bullecourt but the highlight was definitely the trip to the 4th Divisional memorial.

Tomorrow is the last day of my tour, which will be in and around Villers Bretennoeux.